how to start a self-hosted wordpress blog in a day

I’ve actually been receiving a lot of questions on how I started my blog, like how do you do it, hosting a blog?

Well, it’s not even that hard. And in this blogpost I will explan it. And of course if you have any questions, be sure to ask me in the comments!

Let me tell you that you’d want to go self-hosted for this. It’s worth mentioning that self-hosted WordPress.org and WordPress.com are complete different platforms. WordPress.com is a free blog hosting service, yet it doesn’t allow custom designer themes upload and has limited editing options. With Worpdress.org you have complete control over your blog and its content, so this tutorial will allow you to start off on the right foot.

LET’S GET TO IT!

So to start a self-hosted WordPress.org blog you will most definitely need a hosting plan! A Small Orange is where I’m currently host my blog and website with a recommendation from a friend and to be honest with you guys, I never looked back. They have truly the best customer service and are available 24/7 which is always so useful for a newbie blogger or anyone starting their business on the web. Thus, for this post I decided to introduce you the host I use personally & trust with my own blog and website.

STEP 1: GET YOUR HOSTING PACKAGE

Start plan from A Small Orange is probably one of the most popular plans they offer. You also get a FREE domain, FREE email account and many more awesome add-ons!
Of course you can also go with a larger plan, but for your first blog small package is really more than enough. So just go ahead and select BUY NOW button to be taken to a new window.

STEP 2: CHOOSE A DOMAIN NAME.

Scroll down and you will get an option to choose a domain name you’d like to use. You can add unlimited websites and blogs to your ASO account later on tho, so don’t worry too much if you’re not totally sold on your current domain name idea.

STEP 3: CHOOSE PAYMENT OPTIONS.

Here, you will get to choose your Billing Cycle. You save quite a few euros if you decide to pay annually and the best thing is- you don’t have to worry about monthly payments for the next 12 months! Of course, it’s up to you to decide, so just choose what you’re most comfortable with.

STEP 4: COMPLETE YOUR ORDER.

You don’t have to take upon any Additional Services at this point. You can always get back for some extra security options etc. once you start posting! Just go ahead and fill in all your contact details and payment information.

STEP 5: INSTALL WORDPRESS.

Once your order is processed, you should set up and receive your login details. Once you have access, login to Cpanel. Scroll down to find Softaculous Apps Installer section. You will see WordPress icon there too, just select it and it will take you to WP installation page.On the next window, make sure to select the domain name which you’d like to use for your blog:

Fill up the rest of the tabs with your blog title/subtitle/your admin name/password and then just select INSTALL.

Here it is, your WordPress blog should be ready now, you will see the link that you can use for logging in on the next window!

STEP 6: CHOOSE BLOG DESIGN.

Blog design is a crucial part of your blog. I adore bloggers that take web design seriously and most of the time I don’t even dig into reading blog that use a default theme. There are many blogdesigners out there, but I personally liked Pipdig the best. And I would totally recommend this to you! So go take look at Pipdig.

STEP 7: START BLOGGING!

Now it’s all up to you to make this blog successful! So just go ahead and do your research on what works and what doesn’t! A post that you might find helpful (in dutch):